Tales of MineZ
by AxleMC131
Summary: Ever heard of a Minecraft custom gamemode called MineZ? It's brilliant, trust me. This is a Minecraft-IRL story based on my own experiences in the post-zombie apocalypse gamemode, on a global multiplayer server...
1. Part 1 - Chapter 1

**A/N - I would just like to point out that MineZ is possibly my favourite Minecraft custom gamemode ever. It is based on the Arma II mod DayZ. Try it: Go to 'www . shotbow . net' or their server 'lms . minez . net' (The Shotbow network lobby) and play MineZ! (It's the giant zombie with a huge bloody Z behind it.)**

**MineZ Tip: when you spawn into the MineZ world, you are actually given the items I have written about. The bandage is actually paper, but it works like a bandage in the game. Also, the water flask (water bottle) is highly important. You get thirsty and can die of dehydration in MineZ! Yay!**

**Part One - The Game and the Traitor**

**One - The Desert Camp**

MineZ server. Lobby. "/minez spawn". Bang, into the world at a completely random point along the coast.

I was wading in the breakers, knee-deep in salty sea brine. I picked my way through the foam to the water's edge and climbed out onto the beach.

Sitting down, I opened the backpack hanging from my shoulders and inspected my beginner's supplies. Other than the second-hand leather armour I was already wearing, I had a wooden sword, a single bandage, a flask of water and a shiny eye of ender. _Bloody MineZ combat logging,_ I thought, and hurled the glowing green ball over my shoulder into the ocean. The ender eye just took up space normally. I just had to think "logout" and I could achieve the same thing as using it.

I emptied my bag of the rest of its contents. Tucking the flask and bandage into my belt, I equipped the crappy wooden sword and swung the bag back on my back.

"Right," I said aloud, "Where the hell am I this time..." I mentally formed the word "Coordinates" and my heads-up-display flashed on to show three sets of numbers. Only the x-axis was important. 531, it said. I blinked and the numbers disappeared again. Climbing up over the sand dunes I looked out into the MineZ world. The huge desert that lay before me clarified that coordinate. Awesome. This was possibly my favourite place to start in MineZ. I crouched down just behind the top of a sand dune and looked left and right. The dusty road that stretched from east to west was empty of people. No reason not to be cautious though. Standing up, I climbed over the dune and entered the desert.

"First stop, the desert camp," I muttered happily. Almost directly inland from where I had spawned was a tiny camp dug into the sand. It was an average place for getting starting resources, but I really liked it for the asthetics. As I casualy crossed the searing desert, two colourful tents came into view. I neared them and slowed down. Zombies had a tendency to spawn out here. But all seemed clear. Sweet. I carried on.

The first tent was white and red. I had come from behind, so I circled around to look in. Sure enough, there was a small supply box which would contain potential resources or tools. I crept up and, glancing around once more to be sure I wasn't being watched, opened the box.

A filthy looking pair of leather boots with some brown mushroomy fungus growing on it. What a haul. Ah well. I sat down and pulled off my own boots. One of the brilliant aspects of Minecraft that the developers of MineZ had retained was the ability to craft items together to repair them. I held the two pairs of boots up to each other, closed my eyes, and focused hard. In my mind I imagined a single pair of leather boots, in a better state than either of the pairs I now held. I felt the boots give way in my hand as I forced them together, and when I opened my eyes again I was holding just a single pair. It was in almost mint condition. Nice. My armour would hold out a little longer. The mushroom, which I knew was perfectly edible, I chucked over my shoulder into my bag. If I found a bowl I could make some stew, and that would be helpful.

I moved back into the sun and then under the second tent. This slightly bigger one was white and blue, and there was a second box in it. I opened it.

Oh hell yes. Stone sword. Nearly broken, but a truckload more damaging than my wooden one. I tucked the stone sword into my belt. I would wield the as-yet unused wooden one still, so that I could get some use out of it on easy enemies before wasting the stone's durability.

I knew this camp well. The rest of it was built in a small maze of trenches that ran between the tents and off to one side a bit. There were three other storage boxes in various small covered rooms off the trenches. I came up to the edge and lowered myself into the nearest trench. The first room was just beside the red tent. I crawled in, ducking my head so I didn't clonk my helmet in the doorway. The storage box in here was in the corner. A piece of wheat. Moderately useful, but I'd need one more and some cocoa beans before I could make cookies. That was always a personal achievement in MineZ, the cookies. I kept the wheat.

Next room, next box. Another wooden sword, nearly broken and a piece of cobweb. Gah. I kept the sword for backup. The cobweb was a nice find though. I could throw it down in front of someone and trap them in it for a few seconds. Handy. I put it in the bag.

I was just about to leave the room when I heard yelling and groaning. I crept as quietly as I could up to the doorway and peered out of the trench. A person wearing leather armour was fighting back about three zombies with a badly damaged wooden sword. As I watched, a zombie swung its arms down upon the man's blocking blade and shattered the carved plank. He screamed in terror and fell back into the next trench over. The zombies moved like lightning and leapt down to join him.

I had two choices here. Leave this person to get zombified then loot their body, or run out, fight my way to them and strike up an alliance.

Ah, screw it. The game was more interesting with two. Taking a deep breath, I leapt out of the doorway and ran at the nearest zombie.


	2. Part 1 - Chapter 2

**A/N - Sorry about the delay since the last chapter! School and family. Gah. Ah well. Here's the next one.**

**Darx220Finite is an OC I made up on the fly while writing this chapter, and anyone with the same name out there, I swear it's a coincidence! I never actually met a person with that name in MineZ, but he fit for the story. There are two other characters who are real people that I will include in later chapters, but for the moment what the hell. Imagination!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Minecraft or the game MineZ or the Shotbow network. But I do enjoy all of them.**

**Two – A lucky Find and a lucky Friend**

Swinging the blade high so as not to get it stuck in the trench wall, I brought my sword down upon the nearest zombie's skull. The two closest to me instantly spun and focused on me instead of the poor unarmed guy, who was now running down the next trench to escape.

The zombie I had already hit charged the short distance towards me and tried to smash me with its arms, scratch me with its claws. But I was too quick. I backed up a pace, then used my sword to stab, thrusting it forwards into the putrid creature's midriff. He let out a cry of undead pain and was definitely hurt now, but he kept coming.

"Bloody wooden CRAP!" I yelled, as I drew back and swung the sword once more, from underneath this time, catching the zombie between his legs. This would have been a murderous strike against another human, and even on the undead beast, it seemed to have a satisfying effect. The zombie's eyes bulged and he rose a few inches off the ground from the force of my upward swing. Then he dropped back down, shook, and fell over sideways onto the trench wall. "Gotcha!"

The next zombie had to fight over his twice-dead comrade's body, so I had a slight advantage of reach. Raising my sword over my head again, I brought it down once, twice, on the beast's head and left shoulder. It screamed in pain and fell to its knees.

Then I made the mistake of getting cocky. Grinning evilly, I stepped forward to finish the zombie off, and failed to dodge the next brutal swing of its claws. It caught me off balance, in the knees and I spun and fell, falling against the trench almost on top of the already dead zombie. The other zombie crawled over to me and swiped again, this time at my exposed face. I felt the claws cut skin and a searing pain spread across my face. My vision blurred slightly. I was hurt. The zombie gurgled in what might have been triumph and clawed me a third time, this time in the side. I felt my leather armour rip down the side and the claws easily sliced through my underclothes. The force of the hit impacted against my ribs, and through the pain I could swear I heard a crack of at least one of them breaking...

The zombie's rotting, expressionless face seemed to grin as it drew back to finish me in its last swipe. "Oh crap..." I thought, as I faced my apparent early death.

Then, without warning, an arrow whistled out of nowhere and speared the zombie's head. It fell instantly over its comrade.

I blinked in shock. "Wha... What... Where did...?" After a few moments I recovered enough to look up at where the arrow had been shot from. The man I had run to save was standing at the other end of the trench, now holding a bow in his hands. He had a look of grim determination on his face as he kicked his way past a third zombie body in front of him.

I stared up towards him. "You saved my life...!" I said stupidly. "Thank you!"

He looked me up and down with his dark eyes. I stared back. His own leather armour was torn in many places, and he seemed to be limpimng slightly. I became a little suspicious as he got closer, but then his steely gaze softened. The man winked at me and lowered his bow, which I could now see looked in worse shape than him. "You saved mine," he replied in a gruff but friendly sounding voice. "Makes sense, don't it?"

I tried to pull myself up to my feet. I managed it, but a sharp pain shot down my side and I gasped a little. The man raised an eyebrow. "You hurt?"

Yeah. I really was. "Nah, I'm fine. It's just a bruise." I looked back at him again. "Who are you anyway? What's your name?"

"Darx220Finite," he replied, and a nametag flashed breifly over his head confirming his response. He stuck out his free hand. "Most people just call me Darx."

I sheathed my sword and shook the hand. It was rough yet warm. "I'm AxleMC131," I replied, "Or Axle to my friends. Nice to meet you."

"You too." Darx grinned. I was starting to like this guy.

I looked down at the bow Darx was carrying. "I thought you lost your weapon?" I said. 'Where'd you get the bow from?"

Darx gestured over his shoulder towards one of the trench rooms. "Storage box. The zombie that was still after me, I punched him back into the trench then ran around to there. I found the box and nabbed the contents just before the zombie came in. A bow and a coupla arrows." Sure enough, there were two or three arrows poking out of Darx's backpack.

I grinned. "Wow. Lucky as hell, huh?"

"No kidding." The smile on Darx's face widened. "I'm only a fair shot to be honest, but as you say, luck must be on my side. Wanna team up?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," I replied, chuckling. "Sure thing."

"Sweet." Darx appeared to be concentrating suddenly.

I frowned. "Whaty're you doing?" I asked.

"Friending you," he replied.

"Oh. Derp. I'll do the same thing." I concentrated hard on the words "Friend Darx220Finite". In a couple of seconds, a blue triangle appeared over Darx's head. "Done," I said. Friending someone was a useful technique of marking one person among others. The blue marker could be seen as far as you could see a person.

"Right," I raised my head to look out over the trench. "Any ideas where to go next?"


	3. Part 1 - Chapter 3

**A/N - Cookie Lennie is a real minecrafter who I do not know personally. I only know him as he is portrayed in this chapter. His real screen name is ever so slightly different form the one I have given him here, so if he is reading this, I don't want to steal your name! I just wanted you as a murdering character! No offense IRL! if he does read this and wishes me to use a different name, I am only too happy to ablige.**

**Three – Coliseum**

Darx pulled a water flask out of his belt and held it upside down. Not a drop fell out. "Some water would be nice," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm parched."

"No problem," I replied, and pointed down to the far end of the campsite. "There's a tiny well at the south end of that trench."

"Cool. Be right back." Darx walked over to the trench and jumped down, disappearing from sight. I glanced around the camp, and noticed that the blue tent's box had respawned. I hobbled over, trying not to wince from my injuries, and opened it.

Leaning down, I pulled out the contents. There was a snowball and a shiny, red apple. Delicious. The snowball, which strangely never melted, could be thrown away to distract zombies. They would swarm around wherever it hit the ground. I quickly shoved the loot into my bag and straightened up.

Darx was returning, tucking a full flask back into his belt. He pulled out his bow. "I know a great place for loot by the way," he began, "Just west of here. You know that huge building on the hill?"

I frowned. "The one that looks like the Coliseum?"

"Yeah, that's it."

I raised my eyebrows. The Coliseum was a notoriously risky place to be. "Sure that's a good idea?" I said cautiously. "Bandits hang out there like, all the time!"

Darx shrugged. "I passed it on the way down here. Looked pretty deserted to me."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Curiousity got the better of me. I had never dared venture to the Coliseum before, having been driven off by groups of bandits and murderers whenever I came close. But if what Darx said was genuine… "Okay, we'll go," I decided, "But I'm gonna be cautious. I'm…" I hesitated here. I was actually on very low health, but in-game fitness was your most closely guarded secret in MineZ. I didn't know if I should trust Darx completely. Okay, he had saved me and teamed up, but that didn't mean he wouldn't turn traitor if he found out I wasn't in any state to fight. Huge rule of MineZ: never trust anyone completely. "I'm not quite on full health," I amended.

Darx nodded. Had he noticed my hesitation? Could he tell I was in worse shape than I was showing? I could swear he shifted his bow into a slightly more comfortable firing position… "Fair enough," he said. "I'm just about full. But I could use a melee weapon. Got a spare sword?"

I did. The nearly broken wooden one. If Darx was trustworthy, he was certainly a good fighter, but he would need a weapon to survive if we got mobbed. On the other hand, if I refused to give him a weapon he would probably instantly become hostile, and if he tried to attack me with that wooden piece of crap it would probably snap instantly. Gah. I hated dilemmas like this. The safest thing to do was give him the sword. I opened my bag and tossed him the plank. "Here."

A sudden darkness passed through his eyes, and I automatically froze. I knew then he was most certainly not someone I could trust. He blinked and his eyes had returned to their normal grey colour, but all the same. "Thanks," he said.

This guy was a traitor.

I put away my own wooden sword and pulled out the stone one. "C'mon. Lead the way, Darx."

He nodded and smiled with an expression of fake friendliness. "Okay. This way."

Darx turned towards the west and marched away towards the big hill that sat below the now setting sun. I followed after him, trying to move as fast and as quietly as I could in my present state. We reached the foothills quickly enough, and the hill wasn't that steep. We made reasonable headway and were halfway up before the sun sank behind the hill. It became dark very quickly, but as we climbed higher I could just make out the shape of the big ruined building that stood atop the hill, like a sentry guarding the entire desert. Darx glanced over his shoulder at me. I was puffing a little, but still making good headway, about ten metres behind him. "Nearly there Axle," he said, and carried on up the incline. I frowned. Had it not been for the issue with the sword, I would probably still trust this guy completely. He seemed really nice, if a little firm, on the outside. The kind of person people look up to. Fortunately for me, I knew better.

Darx now stood at the very door of the Coliseum. He peered into the gloom. I came up behind him. "Well? We going in?" I asked.

He turned around. "If you like." And he winked an evil wink then.

Without warning, an arrow whizzed down from the first floor of the ruin and speared into the sand beside me. I blinked, shocked but ready, and drew out my stone sword. Darx, an evil grin on his face, leveled his bow at me and drew an arrow back.

"You're a bastard Darx," I yelled at him, "A lying, traitorous bastard!"

"At least I'm gonna get out of this alive!" He taunted me.

"What makes you so sure?" I challenged. But as I said that, out of the gloom behind him, four people appeared wielding stone and iron swords, and kitted out with chainmail or iron armour. My jaw dropped. Not only had Darx been a traitor, he had been the bait that led me into a fatal trap. These people were bandits, looking to kill innocent players to steal their items, or just to troll them. But what scared me most was someone tapping me on the shoulder. I spun and just about screamed.

Standing behind me, in full iron armour and wielding an enchanted iron sword, was one of the most widely known murderers of MineZ.

Cookie Lennie. Cookie, who had killed me oh so many times along with oh so many other players. Cookie, who I had never seen in beginner's gear. Cookie, who now swung his sword at me.

Cookie Lennie's eyes barely flickered as the cold blade tore through my weak armour and pierced my body. My vision went black and grey and blurry, and I felt pain like nothing I had felt before. I screamed as I felt the sword withdrawn, and I fell to my knees. I was dying. I didn't know what vital organs Cookie had hit, but he had hit something. I was loosing blood fast. I was nearly dead... And now through the haze, a more familiar figure appeared.

Darx was standing over me, holding the very same wooden sword I had given him only hours beforehand. I couldn't speak, my breathing was too rapid, I was too weak…

And I heard Darx220Finite laugh aloud, and he swung the wooden plank down at my neck to finish me off -

The MineZ game disconnected me and I appeared in the middle of the server lobby. I ran over to the MineZ entry and punched the wall. "That BASTARD Cookie Lennie!" I yelled in frustration.

**A/N - The next coming chapters will be me reminiscing my first ever MineZ game with a very good friend of mine, Wingnuts007. These first three chapters, which are all fictional, were just to give readers a taste of MineZ, as well as my writing abilities. ;P I hope you have enjoyed this little trilogy involving Darx, and if you would like to here more MineZ tales, please review! Until then, thank you for reading.**

**- AxleMC131**


	4. Part 2 - Chapter 1

**A/N - Hey readers, I'm back! This is the next part of Tales of MineZ, an approximate recount of my first ever game of MineZ. Hopefully you enjoy the suspense of me having only the tiniest knowledge of how to play the game...**

**Also, you may notice the thing called "Scipe". In case you're wondering, it's a spoof of Skype, which my friend and I were communicating with at the time. Just thought I'd be clever and come up with a different name. ;P**

**Part Two – The Beginning**

**One – MineZ Spawn**

I joined the Minecraft server and waited for it to connect me. In an instant, I was in the MineZ lobby holding a manual in my hand. I briefly flicked through the pages, getting a general idea of how the gamemode worked, then pocketed the book. This was to be my first time on MineZ, but I had been introduced to it by a friend who I was waiting for now. I moved to one side and leaned against the wall of the lobby, waiting patiently, excited to see this gamemode in action.

People were appearing in the lobby and disappearing very quickly. I craned my neck trying to look over the crowd, and spotted a dwarf-ish man wearing a blue cloak and a blue and silver helmet. He blinked and looked around the room.

"Wingnuts?" I called. "Over here!"

The dwarf looked my way and his face turned to one of recognition. Pushing his way through the crowd, he made his way over to me and shook my hand. "Hey Axle," he greeted me, "Ready to start the game?"

I nodded. "Absolutely. Umm…" I frowned. "How do we enter the world again?"

"The command?" Wingnuts replied, "It's 'slash minez spawn'. Remember we won't necessarily spawn in the same place; the map is huge. But you always spawn on the coast, so we should hopefully be able to find each other."

"Ah," I said, slightly un-nerved about being separated. "Guess we'd better start then, Wing?"

"Yep. Hang on…" Wingnuts closed his eyes suddenly and went still, and I recognized the AFK symptoms. In a few seconds, there was a buzzing sound in my ear and I heard Wingnuts' voice again. "Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Yep, I can hear you. I forgot about Scipe," I said, reassured by the communication system. "So this means we can still talk over long distances?"

The dwarf in front of me opened his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Ready now?"

I nodded excitedly. "Hell yes! Let's go!"

Wingnuts laughed at my over-excitement. "Okay, okay. Together. Ready? Spawn."

I mentally formed the phrase '/minez spawn' in my mind. The last thing I saw was Wingnuts giving me a big wink, and then darkness.

Through the blackness, I felt me body being disassembled, flung away to somewhere else, and put back together again, all in a few short moments. The teleport finished and my vision returned.

I blinked in the sudden sunlight. It was day, which was nice. I looked around to find myself on a long but narrow beach, with the sparkling ocean to my left and a green pine forest on the right. I looked up and down the beach, but saw no one nearby. Frowning, I talked into the virtual Scipe microphone, "Wing? Can you still hear me? Where are you?"

"I dunno, what are your coordinates?"

"Uh…" I turned on my debug-screen and checked my coordinates. "Which one's importabnt?"

"The 'x' coord."

I glanced at the corresponding numerals. "About 2200…" I replied. "Does that help?"

"Kinda actually. I'm not that far away, I'm a little bit west of you. Come west down the beach."

"Okay, will do." I hesitated, then said, "What if I see another player?"

"Avoid them."

"Oh. Okay then." I turned west down the beach and began to walk. As I did, I noticed that the beach travelled almost straight from east to west, the ocean covered the entirety of the south, and northwards was masked by pine trees.

I continued to wander along the sand, before I realized I was wearing light leather armour. I looked down and saw that I was fully kitted out in a leather suit, but it appeared to be slightly dirty and torn in one or two places. I shifted my bag from one side to the other, and noticed it felt heavier than empty. I sat down, opened the bag and blinked in surprise.

In the bag was a roughly crafted wooden sword, a bottle of water, a piece of paper and an Ender eye. I frowned at the shiny green ball, wondering what it was for. "Hey Wing?" I said, "What's with the equipment?"

"That's your beginner's gear," came the reply. "A sword, water, ender eye and a bandage."

"A bandage?" I pulled the paper out and turned it over. It did feel softer and more absorbant than normal paper did in Minecraft, and on closer inspection I noticed a tiny logo printed in one corner, a bow with three arrows. "This paper?"

"Yep."

"Huh," I said. "Interesting." I sheathed the sword and water bottle in my belt, and replaced the bandage and ender eye in the bag. Having organized my inventory, I then stood and carried on.

A few seconds later though I stopped. Peering to the right, I could just see a small wooden structure to the right, between the trees. I frowned. "Hey Wing? What kind of structures spawn in the world?"

"Loads," he replied in my ear. "There are towns and ruins scattered all over the map. Why, found something?"

"I'm not sure," I said, making my way now through the trees towards the odd structure. "I'm just checking…"

"Be cautious," Wingnuts warned, "If your coordinates are right, you're near a small town. Can't remember what it's called, but there may be hostile players there."

As I approached the wooden building, it became clear that it was a tall signpost. It arched over a grass-covered gravel path that travelled parallel to the coast, that I hadn't seen from the beach. I wandered under the archway and read a small sign stuck on the inside. "_Welcome to Carmi_," it read. I turned to look past the sign and noticed for the first time that there was a ruined-looking town beyond it.

"Wing? I found a place called Carmi."

"That's it, that town. I'll meet you there, feel free to explore around."

"Cool." I turned around and looked into the town. The first place that caught my eye was an inordinately tall watchtower. It rose up about forty blocks into the sky. My eyes followed it down, and I saw a figure meandering around the base of the tower. I quickly backed up and hid behind a tree, then peered out to get a look at who this was.

The figure was a player wearing beginner's gear. He was holding a wooden sword and seemed to be doing nothing other than pacing slowly in a random circle. I frowned and crept closer, keeping behind the tree line. I thought I was well hidden, sneaking along here. But I was wrong.

As I neared the player, they suddenly looked up at the sound of my feet crunching over dead pine needles. In a rush, I ducked behind the nearest tree making a rustling sound in the undergrowth. But in vain. Peeking round the trunk, I saw the player narrow their eyes. They raised their sword up in a battle position and began to stride forwards towards me. There was no more use hiding. I took a breath and stepped out from behind the tree, holding my hands up in a gesture of peace.


	5. Part 2 - Chapter 2

**A/N - Hiya readers, here is the next installment of my MineZ stories. In this episode, I find my first loot and face my first zombie! Slightly shorter chapter, but hopefully will still be gripping.**

**Two – Impact**

The player stopped. "Truce," I said hopefully, "I don't want to hurt anyone."

They raised their eyebrows. "You don't?" they replied, seemingly surprised.

I shook my head. "I'm just trying to get supplies."

"Oh, sorry," the player said, sheathing their sword. "Welcome to Carmi. Help yourself to any loot you find." They turned around and wandered into the town. I breathed a sigh of relief. The first person I had met hadn't been a murderer. I exited the forest and entered the town.

The town was definitely abandoned. All the buildings were crumbled and fallen down, and many were covered in vines and moss. All save for the watchtower. I made my way over to the tall stone structure, and found a doorway in one side. There, I found my first loot chest.

It was hidden under a spiral stairway that spun up and up out of view. I looked over my shoulder, then opened the chest to see what was in it. In the dim light inside the tower, I could only just see what was in it. Reaching down, I pulled out a bundle of wheat and a few arrows. Even though I didn't have a bow, I kept the arrows as well as the wheat. Throwing them in my bag, I closed the chest again and began to climb the spiral stairway, to hopefully get a better view of the entire town.

The stairway seemed to go on for ages, and I felt my legs getting sore, but eventually I reached the top. The top was a stone floor, exposed to the sky on all sides, with a wooden roof supported by fence posts. Somewhere above me I could hear the crackling of a fire, a beacon of flame against a blue sky. I turned around and looked out, then realized there was a second chest at the top with me. Feeling rather calm and glad to be playing at last, I opened the chest.

With a snarl, a putrid, rotten face leaped at me out of the chest. I fell back onto the stones as the horrifying creature gave a low growl, then swiped at my legs. I curled up to avoid the blow and inched backwards, but my hand suddenly felt the stone floor end and be replaced by nothing. I glanced around to see I was on the very edge of the tower. Terrified of both falling and this sudden monster, I leaped to my feet and drew my sword out.

My brain chose that time to chillingly remind me that the zombies in MineZ were stronger, faster, smarter and altogether tons more deadly than the usual shambling Minecraft monsters. I shivered.

The zombie had backed off a pace, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that it had a stone sword tucked into its filthy belt. The undead beast came at me again, trying to claw my face this time. Thinking fast, I blocked the hit with my sword, then quickly ducked under the zombie's guard and stabbed it in the side. The monster screamed and twisted around, trying to bite me. I jumped away then cut a line across its back, ripping its already torn shirt. The beast spun. In a flash it had leaped straight at me, far faster than I could react. I was forced to the ground, face to face with the decaying horror. The zombie, pinning me with one arm, pulled back and swiped me across the face. I yelled out. The cuts weren't deep, but they hurt. In rage now, I kicked wildly and felt my foot impact with the monster's knee. There was a crack and the beast fell over to one side with a groan. Still on the ground myself, I brought my sword from right to left over my body and hit the zombie in the neck with the hilt.

The undead creature gave a horrible hacking moan and clutched at its neck. I stood up, eyeing the zombie's stone blade, and raised my own sword again. The writhing monster below me reached up for me pitifully, but I simply struck it in the elbow. The beast screamed again. With no mercy for the foul being, I stabbed the wooden blade down hard into its chest.

For a few seconds more the zombie wriggled fitfully on the hard stone floor, then was still. I sat down, exhausted and with a sick feeling in my stomach. I wasn't sure if the feeling was from the fatigue, or just from the smell of the rotting, undead monster. Either way, it had been an tense battle. I wasn't used to MineZ zombies. Normal Minecraft zombies seemed like peaceful cows compared to these bloodthirsty devils. But, I realized, I had faced one and beaten it, taking only a few cuts to the face in return. I grinned, feeling rather proud of myself.

Coughing up a tiny bit of blood, I leaned over and pulled the stone sword unceremoniously from the monster's body. It was old and chipped, but it would still be more effective than my silly plank of a sword. Looking at the wooden blade, I now realized that it had taken a real beating from the battle. It was chipped and splintered in several places, and streaked with dark undead blood. I thought for a moment, then tucked the wooden sword into my belt and wielded the stone one. Then I stood up and gazed out over the town of Carmi, ready for whatever the MineZ game chose to throw at me next.


End file.
